Keynote address by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, UN General Assembly, New York, USA

Your Excellency, Ms Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly,

Your Excellency, Mr António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations,

Your Excellency, Ms Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations,

Mr Ronald Lamola, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa,

Distinguished Ministers of Foreign Affairs of G20 Member States and Invited Guest Countries,

Representatives of International Organisations and Regional Economic Communities,

Heads of Delegation,

Distinguished Guests,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this meeting of G20 foreign ministers.

South Africa has placed Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability at the centre of our G20 Presidency.

This is driven by our conviction that global challenges can only be resolved through cooperation, collaboration and partnership.

We are hosting this Second Foreign Ministers' meeting alongside the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to reaffirm the G20's commitment to UN values and emphasise the centrality of the United Nations as the foremost multilateral organisation.

As the countries of the world gather for the 80th anniversary of the UN, they are reaffirming peace as a path to sustainable economic development.

Without peace there can be no sustainable development.

At the same time, inclusive economic development is vital to peace by addressing the root causes of conflict.

The international community today confronts many challenges.

The promise of sustainable development is getting further from our reach.

More than 85 percent of the Sustainable Development Goals are currently off track, with setbacks particularly acute in fighting hunger, extreme poverty and rising inequality.

The climate crisis deepens the problem. Extreme weather events are inflicting severe losses, particularly across Africa and other climate-vulnerable regions.

War and conflict is causing massive loss of life, displacing millions and creating humanitarian catastrophes.

These crises test societal resilience and expose structural injustices, gradually eroding trust in multilateralism.

The world looks to the G20, as the premier forum for international economic cooperation, to provide leadership in addressing these urgent challenges.

While the global economy has shown some resilience, we must acknowledge pressing issues of low growth, high debt, tightened financing conditions and constrained fiscal space.

To respond to these issues, we need meaningful reforms of the international financial architecture.

We must increase grant and concessional financing, enhance multilateral coordination on debt, draw in the private sector and ensure equal participation in decision-making on the international economic order.

As part of our G20 Presidency priorities, we advocate for actions to support low-income and developing economies through debt sustainability and reducing capital costs.

We have appointed an African Panel of Experts to work on recommendations addressing impediments to growth and development in Africa, including the cost of capital.

We recently launched the G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Wealth Inequality, chaired by Nobel laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz.

The Committee will develop the first-ever official G20 paper on global inequality.

We are pleased that world leaders collectively adopted the Seville Commitment, a detailed blueprint to address the sustainable development financing gap and solutions to reshape the global financial system.

Let me thank you for your support for our G20 Presidency priorities and deliverables.

The challenges confronting our people and planet today can only be resolved through cooperation, collaboration and partnership.

I look forward to receiving you and your esteemed delegations at the G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg in November.

I thank you.